The Fifth Wall

Melden’s Ma had gone straight to Soshio afterward to check on Melden’s node. It was still there, alright. 4201 Likes from friends and family, and no Exists, and it was all public. She checked to make sure she had no out-of-date credentials in her cred minder, and then did something she’d actually never done before: she de-authed from Soshio. It took a lot more doing than she would’ve imagined. A lot more. She tried to see if she could now find Melden’s public profile:

Oh. You couldn’t even do that, unless you were currentlyauthed.

She thought for a moment. She went to a surfer in the kitchen and determined to query via FeedMe instead. She spoke Melden’s name, and got past 3 intimacy-level tests and then FeedMe returned…

Nothing.

She stared first at the blankness, and then stared at the small print: FeedMe results are based on surface data from over 98% of social networks. FeedMe guarantees neither findability nor accuracy.

She would ask Melden’s Pa about it.

When she did, he’d had to have her go through the whole shebang again and show him.

Maybe it’s because he still has no Exists, she offered, at the end of her exertions… and in the vacuum of better explanations.

I don’t think so, said Melden’s Pa, not sounding too sure. You can find anything these days, and that means you can find anyone.

They do? He’d seemed genuinely surprised. I’ve always wondered how many Likes it takes to get an Exist, he’d said.

She’d had to remind him then that it didn’t work that way. It wasn’t a straight count. It wasn’t x Likes equals one Exist. There was an algorithm, and you weren’t supposed to know how it worked. She pursued him down the corridor to the small closet where he wearily pulled off his jacket and stowed it away. He waited for a gap in the rich recounting of the whole afternoon to ask what was in the offing for dinner.

Pasta by Campbell’s.

And then swiftly on to the nonsensical chat with the rep from Primroses Kinder, almost word for word.

It all sounded a tad ridiculous, he agreed, giving her a peck on the cheek and doubling back towards the sofa.

Melden’s Ma wanted to know if they should do something about all this.

All what?

All this – with Melden’s profile and the kindergarten losing information or whatever was going on! Her arms and hands were outsretched in exasperation.

Melden’s Pa didn’t think ‘some silly Exists score could’ve caused confusion at a daycare, for chrissakes’… and it was the way he’d said it, half chuckling, and she’d gotten a bit annoyed, and it may well have been the beginning.

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Tiny Tells are fragments / snippets of writing that I have accumulated over time. I decided to put them up here, a sort of online workshop for re-visiting and re-working things until they seem a bit more story-like. I might even be editing a post right underneath you! It's all in flux, so please leave some tips and comments.